Developing a Model for Improving Boundary Spanning in Iraqi Economic Cooperatives
Keywords:
Boundary spanning, Economic cooperatives, Knowledge management, Interpretive structural modelling, MICMAC, Organisational coordinationAbstract
Objective: This study aimed to develop a model for improving boundary spanning in Iraqi economic cooperatives and to explain the structural and hierarchical relationships among its key determinants.
Methodology: The study was applied in purpose and exploratory and multi-stage in design. In the qualitative stage, 23 managers, board members, consultants, and experienced employees from Iraqi economic cooperatives were selected through purposive and theoretical sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding with MAXQDA software. After identifying the final constructs, their relationships were examined through Interpretive Structural Modeling and MICMAC analysis. The same 23 experts evaluated the direct influence of each construct on the others using a scale from 0 to 3. Driving power, dependence power, cluster position, and hierarchical levels were then determined from the resulting influence matrix.
Findings: The analysis identified 11 constructs: boundary-spanning leadership, interorganizational trust, knowledge sharing, information technology capacity, structural flexibility, interorganizational networking, interorganizational coordination, boundary employee capability, interorganizational learning, collaborative innovation, and boundary-spanning effectiveness. Boundary-spanning leadership had the highest driving power at 26 and a dependence score of 8, making it the principal driving factor. Boundary-spanning effectiveness had the lowest driving power at 5 and the highest dependence at 26, indicating its outcome-oriented role. Boundary-spanning leadership, information technology capacity, structural flexibility, and boundary employee capability were classified as independent variables; trust, knowledge sharing, networking, and coordination as linkage variables; and learning, collaborative innovation, and boundary-spanning effectiveness as dependent variables. The final model consisted of seven hierarchical levels.
Conclusion: Improving boundary spanning in Iraqi economic cooperatives is a systemic and hierarchical process that begins with leadership and organizational capacities, develops through trust, knowledge exchange, networking, and coordination, and ultimately enhances interorganizational learning, collaborative innovation, and boundary-spanning effectiveness.
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Copyright (c) 1404 Bashar Sami Kazem Al-Dharb, Hossein Rahimi Kalvar, Mohammad Bashokouh, Ghasem Zarei (Author)
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